The priority of temporal aspects in L2-Swedish prosody : Studies in perception and production

Foreign accent can be everything from hardly detectable to rendering the second language speech unintelligible. It is assumed that certain aspects of a specific target language contribute more to making the foreign accented speech intelligible and listener friendly, than others. The present thesis examines a teaching strategy for Swedish pronunciation in second language education. The teaching strategy “Basic prosody” or BP, gives priority to temporal aspects of Swedish prosody, which means the temporal phonological contrasts word stress and quantity, as well as the durational realizations of these contrasts. BP does not prescribe any specific tonal realizations. This standpoint is based on the great regional variety in realization and distribution of Swedish word accents. The teaching strategy consists virtually of three directives: · Stress the proper word in the sentence. · Stress proper syllables in stressed words and make them longer. · Lengthen the proper segment – vowel or subsequent consonant – in the stressed syllable. These directives reflect the view that all phonological length is stress-induced, and that vowel length and consonant length are equally important as learning goals. BP is examined in the light of existing findings in the field of second language pronunciation and with respect to the phonetic correlates of Swedish stress and quantity. Five studies examine the relation between segment durations and the categorization made by native Swedish listeners. The results indicate that the postvocalic consonant duration contributes to quantity categorization as well as giving the proper duration to stressed syllables. Furthermore, native Swedish speakers are shown to apply the complementary /V: C/ - /VC:/ pattern also when speaking English and German, by lengthening postvocalic consonants. The correctness of the priority is not directly addressed but important aspects of BP are supported by earlier findings as well as the results from the present studies.

Ökad förståelse bland företagsledare för nyttan av utvecklingsinsatser inom arbetsmiljöområdet

Sammanfattning Föreliggande rapport avser en delstudie inom projektet Attraktiv Konkurrenskraft (AKK) Syftet med detta arbete är att utvärdera fem metoder som kan ”väcka insikt” om nyttan av att starta utvecklingsaktiviteter för att bättre ta tillvara de mänskliga resurserna i arbetet. Baserat på detta ska en metod väljas för fördjupade studier. Drivkrafterna för att skapa bra arbetsmiljöer är många. Den primära kan sägas vara den humanitära drivkraften. Förutom de överväganden som ligger till grund för arbetsmiljölagstiftning och avtal mellan arbetsmarknadens parter finns alltså goda skäl för företagare att prioritera arbetsmiljöarbete. Den fråga som berörs i detta arbete är i vad mån det är möjligt att genom enkla insatser påverka en arbetsmiljöansvarig chefs benägenhet att gå till beslut om att genomföra insatser för att utveckla förutsättningarna för att bättre nyttja de mänskliga resurserna i organisationen. Målet är att chefen bestämmer sig för att påbörja en beslutsprocess om utvecklingsaktiviteter för att ta tillvara de mänskliga resurserna i arbetet vilket ökar förutsättningarna att rekrytera, behålla och engagera kompetent personal. Som resultat av förstudien har fem olika insiktsmetoder utvecklats och anpassats. Dessa metoder har kallats GAP-analys, Fokusgrupper Attraktivt Arbete, Visit, Riskanalys och Scenario. De tio företagen som deltog hade mellan 11 och 39 anställda, och deras verksamheter var inom områdena tillverkning, reparation och underhåll. Resultat från användning av metoderna visar att alla metoderna uppfyller kriterierna att vara enkla att förstå och snabba att genomföra. Fokusgrupper, Visit och Riskanalys ger konkret vägledning för fortsatt utvecklingsarbete. Fokusgrupper ger ett brett underlag för en fortsättning som bygger på dialog, en djupare analys på individnivå samt har psykiska och sociala dimensioner. Därmed sågs Fokusgrupper som den mest intressanta metoden att gå vidare med. Denna studie indikerar att det finns möjlighet att påverka ledare att ta beslut om aktiviteter för att utveckla den mänskliga resursen. Det finns därmed anledning att ytterligare studera ett antal företag där en och samma metod används. Valet har fallit på Fokusgrupper, även om andra metoder skulle vara tänkbara. Abstract This report concerns a sub-study of the project attractive competitiveness (AKK). The aim of the work is to evaluate five methods that are supposed to” raise awereness” about the advantages of initiating activities to better utilize human resources at work. Based on that shall one method be elected for depend studies. The driving forces for creation of good work environments are many. The primary can be said to be the humanitarian driving force. Except for the considerations that are behind the work environment legislations and agreements between social partners is therefore good reasons for entrepreneurs to give priority to work environment work. The focus of this study is to which extent it is possible by a limited input influence the liability of a manager with responsibilities for the work environment to take decisions to start a process aimed at improving the use of the human resources in the company. The goal is that the manager decides to start such a process which also is supposed to recruit, retain and engage competent staff. In the sub-study have five insight methods been developed or adapted. Those methods have been named gap-analysis, focus groups attractive work, visit, risk analysis, and scenario. The ten participating companies employed between eleven and thirty-nine persons. The companies represented different branches as production, repair work and maintenance. The results from the test of the methods shows that they all meet the criteria’s to be simple to understand and quick to carry through. Focus groups attractive work, visit, and risk analysis gives substantial guidance for further development work. Focus groups attractive work gives a broad base for a continuation built on a dialogue, a deeper analyses of individual level as well as mental and social dimensions. Of that reason chosen for deepened studies. This study indicates that there are possibilities to influence managers to decide about activities aimed at better use of human resources. There are therefore reasons to make further studies in a number of companies where the elected method is used.

Energy Storage for a Grid-Connected PV-System: A Feasibility Study

The work presented in this thesis concerns the dimensioning of an Energy Storage System (ESS) which will be used as an energy buffer for a grid-connected PV plant. This ESS should help managing the PV plant to inject electricity into the grid according to the requirements of the grid System Operator. It is desired to obtain a final production not below 1300kWh/kWp with a maximum ESS budget of 0.9€/Wp. The PV plant will be sited in Martinique Island and connected to the main grid. This grid is a small one where the perturbations due clouds in the PV generation are not negligible anymore. A software simulation tool, incorporating a model for the PV-plant production, the ESS and the required injection pattern of electricity into the grid has been developed in MS Excel. This tool has been used to optimize the relevant parameters defining the ESS so that the feed-in of electricity into the grid can be controlled to fulfill the conditions given by the System Operator. The inputs used for this simulation tool are, besides the conditions given by the System Operator on the allowed injection pattern, the production data from a similar PV-plant in a close-by location, and variables for defining the ESS. The PV production data used is from a site with similar climate and weather conditions as for the site on the Martinique Island and hence gives information on the short term insolation variations as well as expected annual electricity production. The ESS capacity and the injected electric energy will be the main figures to compare while doing an economic study of the whole plant. Hence, the Net Present Value, Benefit to Cost method and Pay-back period studies are carried on as dependent of the ESS capacity. The conclusion of this work is that it is possible to obtain the requested injection pattern by using an ESS. The design of the ESS can be made within an acceptable budget. The capacity of ESS to link with the PV system depends on the priorities of the final output characteristics, and it also depends on which economic parameter that is chosen as a priority.